-Worlds Apart- Ruination (23 page)

“We’re going to make a video of you two out here, in the ‘foreign’ land. You’ll tell them what they did to you. Tell them how you were banished to die alone in the wilds. You’ll tell them how you narrowly escaped and were freed with the help of the foreigners. You’ll tell them Central’s a lie; their lives are a lie and it’s time to be free.” I can’t help but laugh.

“And how do we get this video into Central?”

“We have some very talented people on our side. We’re able to access the digital mainframe and override Central’s telecast. We can turn their videos off and run ours in its place. Our guy can hold it for three minutes before Central will cut us off.” I shake my head in disbelief. “The video will be played at the banquets. We’ll feed it straight into the halls and pavilions where the citizens will be watching. As soon as the video’s done the bombs will go off.”

“Bombs? Did you say bombs?”

“Yes, we need to take out the control centers they use to arm their crafts and missiles for attack.” Jon directs his laser pointer at the map. “There’s two control centers in the Inner sector you both came from. It’s in the testing facility. Your job will be to find the rooms, set the bombs, and detonate them.”

“Simple as that huh?” Ty taunts.

“No, it’s not. You have to get yourselves back to the pick-up point in one piece.”

“So where’s this control center?” I ask, my mind races to think where it could be.

“Our source tells us there are two rooms off the main testing site. Between these two rooms they control the weapons and defenses of the four Outer sectors.”

My mind flies as I see myself following Natalie down the hall on my leap-test nearly nine months ago. I hear her shoes clanging as we traveled the tunnel and then I see it flash in my head…left at the first fork followed by my nervous counting of steps. One hundred and two until I saw that door. What was it labeled? I strain my mind and then it’s there, OS1-2 and OS3-4. OS, Outer Sector.

“I know where the rooms are!” I shout. Jon and Ty both stare, puzzled and disbelieving. “I saw them on my leap-test. I remember exactly where they are. I can get us there.”

“You did? I mean, you remember?” Jon can’t hide the shock even though it’s obvious he’s trying.

“I can take us there.”

“That’s just half the battle. We have our team ready to construct the false identities you’ll need to access the facility. There will be patrols but you have to keep your heads and stay calm. Once inside you’ll build the bombs from pieces you carry in secretly. You meet Hank tomorrow, he’ll be teaching you the necessities to ensure the plan goes without fault.” Ty and I simultaneously take a massive inhale as we try absorbing it all.

“I’m not doing this unless you get my father and sister out first. I need their safety guaranteed.” Jon rings his hands together before rubbing the back of his neck.

“I was waiting for this part.”

“I’m serious. No one wants to get back at Central as much as me, but I refuse to do it unless Emma and my Papa are safe and under our protection.” Jon nods his head.

“Deal, I’ll have Mark make the pick-up right after the bombs go off. He can’t get in any sooner without the craft getting shot down.”

“Fine,” I agree.

“Tomorrow you have your lesson with Hank. Thursday we film the video and a week from Friday you leave. Jake will use the beacon path Ty laid to drop you back where we recovered you. You have less than three months to get yourselves ready for this. I wish you could stay here but it isn’t safe. If anyone found out I was harboring you two I’d be arrested and you’d be sent to Central and executed.”

Ty and I both look to each other, “We understand.”

Chapter 37

Ty throws out his hand to the burly middle-aged man standing alone behind the sterile stainless steel table, “You must be Hank.” Hank politely extends his hand but I can tell he doesn’t like the contact.

Hank looks ex-military. He stands too straight, too tall, and too strong to be anything but military. “I’m Nessa.” I don’t try shaking his hand. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable. Hank’s deep voice cuts the tension.

“Today we’re going to cover the basics you two will need to execute your mission safely and more importantly, effectively. You’re going to be put in the field with all the components you need to execute the mission. What you’ll learn today is how to assemble, secure, and detonate the device.”

The insides of my palms begin sweating as the intensity of the conversation escalates. I try inconspicuously wiping my hands against the white jeans Kara loaned me but Ty catches me out of the corner of his eye. He glances down and smiles, quickly squeezing my hand trying to reassure me.

“This is the charge.” Hank lifts a large black box holding it between the two of us. “It’s what gives the device the capability and force needed to detonate. This…” he lifts four long cylindrical tubes capped at each end. “This is where the explosive materials are contained. Don’t mess with these. You understand?” We both nod. “Basically what needs to happen is this component needs to join with this,” Hank holds both pieces up. “Once you’re at your target location you’ll secure the bomb to the generator.” Hank slides a pixilated photo of a large machine with dozens of buttons and knobs.

“Where exactly are we supposed to attach it?” I ask.

“We’ll get to that part. First off, you each target one room. Inside each room there’s one generator that controls the missile and defense weapons surrounding the perimeters of the Outer and Inner sectors.” Hank pauses letting us memorize the photo. “Once you’re in position, you secure the bomb to the base of the generator,” he points to the center of the device in the picture. “Use this material as the adhesive.”

Hank demonstrates by pressing the malleable substance against the silver cylinders and presses them against the steel table. He tries lifting the device, effectively convincing us of its strength by letting us pull in vain trying to release the bomb.

“Now that it’s secure, you sync the bomb.” He pulls out a watch and holds it to the device. “Program it for 2000.” He can tell I’m confused. “That’s 8:00 pm,” he says clarifying. I nod. “The watch will start counting down thirty minutes before detonation. At exactly 2000 the bombs will detonate.” I look to Ty and swallow. Hank claps his hands and we both jolt. “Let’s get to practicing,” he directs. 

We spend three hours learning how to handle the devices, assemble them, and mock detonate the bombs. This is the most important and dangerous part of our mission and the pressure is physically and mentally exhausting.

“You okay Nessa?” Ty asks. We’ve just finished our last lesson and my eyes burn from the steady state of anxiety I’ve been under.

“I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed, I guess.”

“It’s okay, me too. We’ll be fine. Jon wouldn’t ask us to do it if he wasn’t sure we could.” Ty smiles and for a second I believe him. Hank comes back from making a call.

“Okay you two. I’ve just notified Jon that you’ve completed your training. If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask.” Ty and I both glance at each other then back to Hank.

“No sir. Nessa and I are ready.”

Jon arrives and I sit numbly in the back of the craft, drifting in and out of consciousness. Their conversations sound distant and muted. Eventually I close my eyes and fall asleep. I wake gasping for air and disoriented. Ty’s already at my side.

“Nessa, it’s okay. We’re at Jon’s, we’re safe.” I crash back against my pillow exhaling.

“How’d I get in bed?”

“You passed out in the hover. I hauled you inside and put you to bed. You must’ve been exhausted.”

“You did?”

“No big deal, you’re light. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a bit heavier now that you’re eating but I’m a pretty strong guy.” He laughs as I glare at him. “We’re only a few hours away from our video shoot. We’re gonna be superstars ya know.”

“Ty, do you think this will work?”

“I dunno, I wanna believe it will. We owe it to ourselves and the people we left behind to try.”

“Who did you leave behind?” I realize I don’t know that much about him.

“My family and of course my friends. I have good parents, two younger brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, the works.” I can tell it’s painful to talk about them.

“What’s going to happen to them after all this?”

“I dunno. I hope they get out before Central gets to them.”

“Can’t we get them first? Like they’re doing for my family?”

Ty pauses, “I asked Jon but we don’t have the hovers or the time to get them in the Outer. We could only spare one for a rescue mission and it makes sense to get yours, we’ll be in that sector already.”

“I’m sorry,” I say meaning it. I can tell he’s hurt even though he tries to hide it.

“It’s okay Nessa, don’t worry about it. Let’s get some sleep, big day tomorrow.” He glides back to bed leaving me awake and wondering about him.

I want to ask him so many questions but I don’t dare ask. I want to know why he’s still here, why he won’t give up on me. I want to know about his visions, know if he wishes he didn’t have them too. I wonder if he’s scared like I am. Scared that we may fail, scared that this life wasn’t destined for us. So many questions but instead I let him sleep.

Chapter 38

Jon knocks on our door, the sound startles me awake. “Time to get ready,” he announces from the hallway where his steps retreat back to the kitchen. Ty yawns and stretches.

“You can shower first,” he groans. I toss my pillow hitting him square in the face.

“What the frig was that for?” He asks with his voice cracking.

“Don’t pretend to be doing me any favors! You just want to stay in bed longer.” He rolls to face the wall nestling into his pillow. He’s such a tease I think as I make my way into the bathroom. The hot shower invigorates me. I take my time enjoying this moment.

Ty shouts as he bangs the door, “Almost done in there?”

I turn the water down toweling myself off before I shove past him in the hall. I walk into our room and my stomach drops. Neatly folded and sitting on my bed is my Central scout uniform. Jon walks in behind me.

“We had a replica made,” he says. I nod. “You’ll be wearing this under it.” He hands me a red bodysuit, it’s a deep fire color that’s unlike anything our nation wears. “Once you’ve exposed Central for their atrocities you’ll remove their issued uniform and be wearing this underneath. It’ll symbolize a new chapter for you
and
your people.”

Jon turns and walks away. I slip into my uniform and stare at myself in the mirror. The green suit paired with the high black boots brings back so many horrible memories. I envision them wrapped in the package Natalie placed on our table. The table I used to sit at with Emma. The table in the home I’ll never see again. The uniform that hung from my withered and ragged body, the same uniform that charred and burned into my skin. Finally I break. Ty walks in from his shower as I’m slumped in bed crying. I try hiding myself under the covers as he rushes over taking me in his arms.

“What’s the matter?” He asks frantically. I pull down the sheet revealing the uniform and he understands immediately. “I’ll go say something. That’s bullshit. They can’t make you wear that. Don’t they get what that uniform means to us?”

“Ty it’s okay. Its part of what we have to do. It just feels so wrong you know? It brings back so much hurt.”

“I know Nessa. Trust me, I probably know better than anyone.”

I dry my eyes, “How’d we come to this?”

“What do ya mean?”

“How did we get
here
? How are we supposed to take on Central?”

“One day at a time I suppose. We’ll do it as a team. I got us into this mess and I’ll get us out too. I dunno why I saw you in my vision and felt the things I did but you’re right, I did what I had to do.”      

“You think we can do it?”

“I think if anyone can it’s us. We’re different, we’re fighters. They couldn’t snuff it outta us with the serum. I think we were born for this.” He wipes the tears from my eyes, “We can talk about it later. Let’s get ready to go. Okay?” I nod leaving the room.

After an unusually quiet breakfast Jon takes us to a private filming studio on the south side of the city. “Floor fifteen, room 202, code is 1022.” Apparently Jon isn’t coming inside. He does his best to keep a low profile. I call him paranoid but Ty’s told me it’s for good reason.

My boots feel awkwardly heavy as I climb the stone steps leading into the brick structure. We ride to the fifteenth floor in awkward silence. The floors pass painfully slow and just as I’m about to force a conversation, the ping of the elevator sounds and the doors slide open.

We follow the signs and key in the code to room 202. I don’t know what I’d expected the room to look like but this is nothing like I’d imagined. I thought there would be cameras, lights, people, and scenery; instead there’s a simple green screen, a few stationary lights and one guy behind a camera.

“You must be Nessa,” he takes my hand. “And Ty,” he shakes Ty’s hand and begins talking a million miles an hour. “I’m Paul and this,” he throws his arms overhead and spins, “Is my studio! Jon’s told me all about you and what you’re doing and it’s fabulous. My job is to make you believable, make the people trust you,
and
convince them that this is what they
need
. It’s so exciting, isn’t it?” Paul spins again, “Come this way, my assistant Dora will be getting some makeup on you.”

Paul ushers us behind the green screen to a small station where a round lady with vibrant makeup stands at the ready. Dora shoves me into her chair and in no time begins working on me like Uri did that day months ago.

I’m terrified she’ll put that electric blue on my lids like hers but I’m pleasantly surprised when she turns my chair and I see my subtle enhancements. She’s kept me natural, just cleaned me up and made me look finished. Ty’s transformation is even faster than mine and before I know it we’re standing in front of the green screen.